Mock Congress Project

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Introduction

The Mock Congress project for Mr. Surkan's Civics class attempts to model the actual legislative process in the United States, rather than the theoretical one. To this end there are five official roles for which students audition.

Role Assignments

  • President - Accepts or vetoes legislation. Lobbies Senate and Congress for his interests.
    • Smith - Endangered Species protection - Passed All, including President.
  • Senators - Serve on committees, pass or kill legislation, lobby for constituency's interests
    • Chimberoff (NY) - Reduced drinking age for supervised minors above 12 - Killed in House.
    • George (CA) - Ban Sale and Public Consumption of Alcohol on Sunday's - Passed All, including President.
    • Chastain (MN) - Heavier penalties for drug dealers - Passed All Houses and President
  • Members of the House - Serve on committees, pass or kill legislation, lobby for constituency's interests
    • Dulaney (WA) - Raise driving age to 18 to reduce accidents - Killed in Senate.
    • Edelman (MO) - Allow Congress to Override Presidential Veto and Impeach Him - Pigeonholed.
    • Gaster (MT) - Anti-hazing law to punish all people involved in hazing - Killed in Senate.
    • Hawk (VA) - Strengthen Border Patrols - Not sponsored.
    • O'Neil (NE) - Anti-Animal Abuse Law - Passed All, including President.
  • Members of the Press - Publicise interesting information on the Internet and serve as coctail waitresses.
    • More government regulation:
      • Ferguson - Reduce pollution in populated areas - Pigeonholed.
      • Martin - Nationalizing School Funding and Education - Not sponsored.
    • Neutral: Haslam - Mandatory recycling for businesses - Not sponsored.
    • Less government regulation:
      • Touchton - Online Privacy - Pigeonholed.
      • Prather - Strengthening Capital Punishment - Passed all, including President.
      • Hoover - Allow Congress to Override Presidential Veto and Impeach Him - Unsponsored.
  • Lobbyists - Work for a specific entrepreneur trying to convince politicians to enact favorable legislation.
    • James J. Hill: Fetter - Telegraph on Transcontinental - Not sponsored.
    • Astor: Neuman - Licensing required for government and small private fur trading - Pigeonholed.
    • Rockefeller: Jordan - Tax Rebate for Working Mothers - Unsponsored.
    • Stanford: Bahr - Vehicle hijacking penalties increased - Unsponsored.
    • Construction Workers' Union: Zuckerman - Higher requirements for public safety requirements for large sporting and public places - Killed in Senate.
    • Fulton: Walker - Granting Citizenship to Illegal Immigrants and using funds to increase border patrol - Passed all, including President.

Overview of Process (tentative)

  1. Discuss roles and responsibilities, including answerability of each role in class
  2. Audition for roles
  3. Discuss the anatomy of a bill
  4. Proposed bills submitted (everybody in class submits ONE)
  5. Form committees in Congress based on types of bills submitted (commitees formed, but do not meet to discuss bills yet)
  6. First coctail lobbying session: members of the press serve drinks and document the conversations
  7. Members of the press publish their articles on the project wiki, keeping true to their bias
  8. All class members read and comment on articles (minimum one article per press member)
  9. Second coctail lobbying session: members of the press serve drinks and document conversations, participants try to rectify misunderstandings published after first coctail session
  10. Committees meet to discuss, ammend and vote on proposed bills - members of the press wander freely
  11. Committees publish own results and justifications online
  12. Press discuss committee results on project wiki
  13. House of Representatives meets to discuss and ammend bills that survive the committees
  14. House publishes results of debates, including new amendments
  15. Senate meets to discuss and ammend bills that survive the committees
  16. Senate publishes results of debates, including new amendments
  17. House and Senate revisit any ammendments required by the other
  18. Press comments on results of House and Senate debates
  19. President decides on only those bills which pass both House and Senate
  20. All politicians stand for re-election by all class member

Rules of the Game

  1. All publishing of articles by anybody involved must be on a Web site/wiki/blog to which there is a link from this page
  2. Beyond the minimum requirements, anybody involved in this project may publish their opinions
  3. Only trusted members of this project may be given authority to publish
  4. DO NOT use full names or refer to our school or provide your contact information online
  5. Pseudonyms are allowed, but Mr. Surkan must be informed of them before they are first used